Monday, April 23, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
MONTEREY
The odyssey that my life has become continues! I arrived in Monterey at about 0130 January 14. We formed up behind the company building and some Specialist was explaining to us about how "chill" it was here. From there, we went upstairs to fill out some in-processing packets. You would think they could have saved that for a time when we were all awake and rested, but no. Then they took our phones and electronics, major bummer. There were no beds or rooms for us, so we literally wandered around the barracks looking for places to sleep. I ended up on a couch in the day room, which was really comfortable. They let us sleep in and at noon on Saturday we had a formation. This is when "Phase IV" was explained to us. As a continuation of Basic Training, we were still in a very restrictive environment. We did get our phone backs, but only to use IN OUR ROOMS at the end of the duty day. Most of the time this was at about 1700 or so. The days were filled with classes on stuff we already did at Basic, Land Navigation and First Aid mostly. Sprinkle in a shit-ton of briefings about everything from personal finance to sexual harassment, and that gives you an accurate picture of life here during Phase IV. Oh, and the fact that in order to go ANYWHERE, we had to march in groups of 8 or more. Completely annoying. AND the fact that we weren't allowed to go anywhere that was not assigned. Couldn't pick up and go to the gym, couldn't go to the PX, nothing. Super annoying. The biggest sticking point was our ASU/room inspection. ASU is the acronym for Army Service Uniform, it's the dress blues. The room inspection is a pain, but everyone (at least on the female floor) was prepared. This is mostly because EVERY SINGLE NIGHT, a sergeant comes through your room to make sure your room is in accordance with the very detailed SOP that you must live by. Things like "all trousers will be folded at the waist with the front of the trouser facing the left of the wall locker. The waist of the trouser will be to the viewers left." Seriously. There was shit like that for all our stuff. We had to roll and display socks, underwear, t-shirts, towels and shorts. (see pictures above) And the bed had to be made with hospital corners at a 45 degree angle. Super annoying. So that was part 1 of the inspection. Part 2 was the appearance of our dress uniforms, which is just as detail oriented and just as annoying. "The U.S. insignia will be worn 5/8" from the notch in the lapel and centered between the inside of the collar..." "The name plate will be worn 1-2" above the top button, centered..." Super annoying. Anyway, the first inspection we had we failed. This is mostly due (in my opinion) to the fact that 30 minutes before the First Sergeant was coming, our sergeants had us downstairs telling us what to pay attention to. AND we were wearing ACUs...they gave us 10 minutes to change...and then they were pissed that no one was ready 10 minutes in advance. It was a sham. Not a real inspection at all, evidenced by the fact that when they did come, they were all wearing their ACUs. A week later (oh, did I mention we got an extra week tacked on to our Phase IV because we failed??) they came to do inspection in their ASUs. Suspicious. ANYWAY, long story short, we "graduated" on February 7, and I have a certificate and a unit patch to prove it. Now we're in Phase V, which is basically like being a real person, except if we leave post we have to wear the ASUs. At least it makes sense to me why we had to get them inspected. We were all assigned to our gaining companies, and I'm in Delta, where all the Korean students go. The people there are really nice and friendly, and I really like the platoon sergeants. It took a little getting used to getting up at 0415 for PT every morning, but I would so much rather have PT in the morning than in the afternoon. I somehow have my own room, which is AWESOME. I do not get to live in the beautiful new barracks, there was no room, but the Supply Sergeant (who is really a SPC) says to keep checking back to see if/when a room opens up. Not sure how I feel about moving at this point. Each location has its advantages. Charlie (where I live now) is super close to class and the library, but Delta is super close to where we have PT...so, it's a trade off. I'm happy where I am at the moment, and have really good friends to hang out with, so that's a plus!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Friday, December 23, 2011
Victory Block Leave
I remember, sort of, what happened the Thursday before leave started. We did PT in the morning, and then we did "Bay Maintenance". They had been threatening us since Wednesday night with an inspection by the Battalion commander, and said that if the sleeping bays weren't clean then NO ONE was going to get their block leave. At this point, no one believed them, because they keep saying things and threatening us with things, and never following through. And, I'm pretty sure they didn't want anyone staying there over Christmas who didn't absolutely HAVE to. In between cleaning and chow, our DS briefed us on the expectations for us over these 2 weeks, and we signed a contract basically stating that we would continue with PT, so that we could all pass a PT test upon our return. Bedtime as at 2045, as usual. We woke up at 0330 on Friday so that we could conduct more bay maintenance. The commander was coming to inspect, after all! At about 0550, we met on the CTA, saluted the flag and had chow. MREs for breakfast is really not what you're hoping for, but my Spaghetti and meat sauce meal came with Cheez-its and Skittles, which I saved for later. I might have eaten them, if the DS hadn't come down to inform the females that the latrine smelled like urine and we had 10 minutes to be upstairs to fix the situation. The commander, was after all, coming to inspect. So, 33 females run upstairs to do the job of 3 or 4 people, so most of us just stood around. POVs (people leaving by private vehicle) were to form up at 0730, and it was about 0715 when DS told us to get out. Goodbyes started, and people wanted to give hugs and have emotional goodbye scenes, but I just wanted to get the hell out! I flashed a peace sign and ran my ass to the CTA. Of course, there was more waiting involved. We lined up alphabetically, got our DA31 (leave form) then we marched to the Battalion classroom where we had to wait in a line for outprocessing. There was already a long line of families waiting to pick people up and it as only 0800. The captain had said we might get released at 0900, but the way things work around Ft. Jackson, we all knew it would be closer to 1000. So, we enter the classroom, they check names off a list and give us ANOTHER copy of our leave form and scan our ID. Then they search our bags. Why? Not even the DS doing the searches knew, since in the words of one of them "POV can take whatever the fuck they want home" Stupid. Accordingly, the search consisted of people dumping out their bag then putting it all back in. Stupid. Then we got to sit there and wait. And wait. And wait some more. At one point, they told us to hand in our ID again so that it could be re-scanned. THEN they told us that they were missing one ID card and that NO ONE was going to be able to leave until that ONE person handed in his/her card. Stupid. Everyone sat there because everyone knew that they had handed in their ID. So we waited some more while the sergeants threatened. I had a great idea that they could have everyone stand up, then call all the names off the cards they had, and when you heard your name you would sit down. That seemed like a very easy way to figure out whose card was missing. But no one in any position to make decisions thought of that, so we waited. It was about 0945 when they started lining people up according to whose family was first in line. They would line 10-12 people up, then send them out the door, then do that whole process over again. I had been texting MB, and knew that she was very far back in line, so I was patient once people actually started leaving. Oh, and the whole ID card finasco? They had counted wrong. No one was surprised by this. So now, after pussy-footing around for an hour and a half or so, NOW they decided to rush us and make us hurry. This is how things usually work...the people in charge fuck around for awhile, and when they decide it's time to act, YOU get yelled at for being slow. It's truly messed up and forever frustrating. Oh, well. So, they kept calling names, and I kept sitting there, and then MB texted me and said someone had just come to take her name, so I knew I would be getting out soon! And sure enough, I was in the very next list of names. There are probably not words enough in the English language to express how excited I was to just be in her car, see her and know that I was leaving Ft. Jackson. We lined up dutifully and filed outside where there were a couple of officers assigning people to the right line. They had instructed us NOT to have prolonged hugging or hellos, but simply to drive away. THANK GOD MB ended up being the first car in the line. I said a quick goodbye to my platoon-mate behind me, jumped in the car and told her to drive fast and drive far! She did, thank goodness, and we made a beeline for IHOP, because she really wanted Gingerbread Hot Chocolate and I was dying for real food and COFFEE. I think I was a little bit hysterical to see her, I had been pretty homesick for a couple of weeks. We got to IHOP where I promptly changed out of the ACUs into JEANS and sandals that my mom had so thoughtfully sent for me. It was an amazing feeling to be wearing my jeans and a real bra...after 9 weeks of sports bras, it's a whole new world when you put on a real bra. It's the little things, people, don't take them for granted! I think I had 4 or 5 cups of coffee and pumpkin praline pancakes which were amazing. On the way home I had some Reeses Pieces, diet soda and we stopped at WalMart where I bought some fleecy pajama pants and slippers, 2 things I had been dreaming about for weeks. Since I have been here, I have spent 85% of my time wearing them. It is everything I had hoped it would be. :) I posted this on facebook, but the cliches are true...family and friends are the most important things in life, and I am blessed to have an amazing family and truly awesome friends. You also really don't know what you have til it's gone, so appreciate everything. As I type that, I realize that I was not imprisoned, or hospitalized or in any way being held captive. I did, in fact, sign up. There is something about being cut off from the world as you know it and being totally isolated in this creepy world that is sort of created out of nothing in 9 weeks and that world becomes your reality, there is something about it that makes you feel like you're not a part of anyone's world anymore, that people must have forgotten about you, and that you are never going to be part of the real outside world again. It was a relief to rejoin the world and to be reminded that people didn't forget, and that I will be a part of the real world again. Thank you to everyone for your support and love and letters and prayers. I really couldn't have done it without you. Special thanks to my amazing sister, Marybeth and my mom. You are truly the best. I love you. Watch this space for tales of Monterey! I'm gonna kick some Korean ass!
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